To Touch The Sun
by Scribbles4
Summary: What happened durring the years before Ed and Al discovered the truth about the Philospher stone? This tells of one of their adventures on the brother's tireless search. Reviews are welcome!
1. Default Chapter

Hello my darlings! well here it is, my first real FMA story. I'm going to warn you all that I take FOREVER to update. My classes and work talk up almost all of my time. However, I have most of this story already written so half the work is done!I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed "The Night Everythign Changed." you guys rock!

Disclaimer: I do not own FMA.

And now...on with the story!

**To Touch the Sun**

Edward: age 13

Alphonse: age 12

Date: Tuesday, August 27th

Time: 9:45 P.M.

The sun had long set into the mountainous western horizon. Al watched placidly from his seat on the chugging train as the darkening velvet blue sky allowed for a few struggling dots of light to pop into existence and a bright silver crescent moon grinned down at him. Al sighed, his soft voice echoing hollowly inside his metal prison and he wondered what time it was. Across from him his older brother was laying down on the seat sound asleep. Al couldn't blame him. They had been doing a lot of heavy traveling that week and it had taken its toll on Ed. Together they had traveled to the southern town of Lumbar because of some rumors they'd heard on the road about a woman who might have had knowledge about the philosopher's stone. But as usual it had been nothing but an empty tale. So now here they were on a train heading west on another rumor, whether or not it was credible was still frustratingly unknown to them.

Al knew he was going to spend yet another sleepless night alone with his thoughts unless he found a way to keep himself occupied. In the last two years, Al discovered that if he cleared his mind of absolutely everything, he could sort of, "turn off" and pretend to sleep, but that never really felt like real sleep anyway. Besides, if he did not continuously focus his energy on moving the armor, he found the suit slower to obey his commands.

Al rose as quietly as he could, careful not to disturb his brother, and he clanked softly down the hall. The train was blissfully emptied of passengers after the last departure from Lumbar so Al didn't have to worry about waking anyone as he walked in the semi darkness towards the next train car. The numb sensation of moving forward without feeling the ground pass underneath him was…odd. It was a fact of life he'd been forced to accept. However, he was afraid that the longer he stayed entombed in the suit his memory of human touch would become nothing more than a distant dream.

Al opened the door of the first class cab car and paused after stepping into the room. Through the small eye holes of his helmet he saw golden light spilling out into the hall from one of the front passenger cabins. Thinking that someone was inside and not wanting to startle them, Al turned to go but a voice called to him and he stopped with his foot in midair.

"Whoa! Who are you?" asked a girl with long brown hair and big green eyes. She stood in the doorway with a notebook in her arms and a startled look on her face. Al cringed inside and turned around.

"Oh…uh hello, My name is Alphonse Elric. I'm sorry to have interrupted you, I….uh…I'll just go now," he turned to leave but the girl halted him.

"Hold on, why do you have to go?" the girl smiled, she looked to be about Ed's age. "I'd love to have someone to talk to."

"ahh…heh...Really? You don't even know me."

"So what…" she looked him up and down. "You are kind of strange looking with that armor on. But I say: 'whatever floats your boat.'" The girl grinned. "Hey big guy, can I ask you as question?"

"Uh, sure." Replied Al anxiously.

"How old are you?"

Al knew that if he had a real face she would see the anxiety in his eyes. He couldn't let on to anyone what he was. If word ever spread of what he and his brother tried to do in that basement…the State would probably throw him into some alchemy research lab for the rest of his immortal life and Ed…Al didn't want to think about it.

"Ahh…haha…yeah that's a good question," he replied nervously. "Let's just say I'm really tall for my age and leave it at that. Okay?" The girl looked suspiciously at the huge suit of armor and then shrugged.

"Yeah whatever," she smiled at him. "Hey my name is Jenny, Jenny Heartridge." She extended her hand out for Al to shake, whotook it and was pleasantly surprised at her friendliness towards him. "So, Alphones do you want to come sit down or what?" she pointed to the lighted cabin. When she saw Al hesitate she added quickly, "Oh hey sorry for being so weird, it's just that my Dad wanted to work alone and he's too busy to keep me company right now. Its get's really lonely up here by myself."

"Yeah, I know the feeling." Said Al sadly, then he brightened. "So what does your Dad do?"

"Oh, ah...he's a doctor. We have been traveling from town to town looking for work but my Dad hasn't had much luck finding a job lately."

"You must get to travel a lot with him then." Al sat down heavily across from Jenny, his metal joints clanking loudly and he folded his arms on his lap. Jenny shrugged at his question.

"Its okay I guess, but I get sick of if sometimes you know? I wish we could just settle down in one town like the old days."

"What about your mother? Couldn't you live with her?" asked Al innocently. At this Jenny's eyes fell to the floor and immediately Al feared he had said something wrong.

"My mom died about a year ago," she muttered dully. "Dad said it was her heart. It just stopped beating one day outta the blue." Jenny looked up and grinned sadly. "Sorry, you probably don't want to hear about stuff like that." Al looked at her for a moment and sighed heavily as he gazed out the window into the darkness.

"My mother is dead too," he said quietly, feeling the pain of that day well up again. "It happened a few years ago, but honestly it feels like she died only yesterday."

"Oh, I'm so sorry Alphonse." Said Jenny sadly. "Well I guess it seems we have something in common then." Al nodded and decided to brighten the mood lest he go insane from the dark memories inside him.

"Yeah I guess we do. By the way, you can call me Al. Everyone does anyway."

"Al huh? Ok then," She smiled. "So Al, do you mind if I ask why you're going out west?"

"Oh, well my brother and I are trying to track down an alchemistwho might have knowledge about something we're looking for and we heardhe might be in Star city. We've never been out west either so it's nice to see a place we've never seen before."

"Star city is huge, you'll fit right in." she said grinning. "Where is your brother?"

Al laughed.

"He's sleeping in the car down the hall. He looked pretty tired so I left him alone."

"So is he your little brother then?"

Al face faulted and was glad that Ed was not there to hear the "little" statement.

"Uh no, he's my older brother by a year."

"Oh okay. It's nice you two get along well enough to travel together." Jenny pulled her legs up to sit Indian style as she looked at Al curiously. "You know, I remember my Dad telling me about a pair of brothers who are Alchemists, and one of them actually became a State Alchemist when he was only twelve. I think their last name is Elric too. Are you guys related by any chance?"

"Oh that's Ed!" exclaimed Al happily. "Wow I didn't think we were that well known out here. Talk travels fast I guess."

"You're an Alchemist?" asked Jenny in awe. "Wow! You guys are famous!"

Al rubbed the back of his metal helmet sheepishly and laughed. "Yeah well Ed really does all the work. I pretty much just keep him from getting into too much trouble."

"Your brother must be really smart to have gotten so far in the military huh?" said Jenny.

"Yeah, Ed knows more things then most people will learn in their entire lifetime." Al said quietly. "I wish I knew what he knows sometimes."

"Hey don't say that. I bet you're just as smart as him." She said cheerfully.

Al looked at her with his empty eyes and sighed.

"Yeah, if you say so," Al suddenly remembered that Ed might wake up and find a certain brother missing and that he might worry about him. It was time to get going. "Well, I guess I should be getting back to my brother now. It was nice to meet you Jenny." He rose from the bench quickly and ducked to exit the too small door.

"Bye Al! Oh hey! Maybe we'll see each other in Star City?" said Jenny quickly. "We'll probably be there for a few days and that's only if Dad doesn't find a job."

"Yeah, okay! See you later then Jenny." Al waved goodbye and made his way to the passenger car in back. Inside the armor, Al was thinking. Jenny seemed so lonely. Why would her father just leave her like alone like that? It didn't seem right at all.

Al gazed out the windows of the train car and noticed the mountains were growing flatter. They were entering the western territories. Jenny and her father were probably going to have much more luck finding employment in Star City, than he and Ed were in finding one alchemist in a huge city. The man may not even be in the city for all they knew. If the day ever came when he and his brother could return back to normal… Al sighed deeply. That was taking longer than both of them had ever anticipated. He finally came upon his pint sized brother whose mouth was hanging open and a thin dribble of drool hung down his chin. Al sat down as quietly as he could and pulled Ed's red coat over his brother's shoulders to keep him from getting chilled. At least he had his brother in all of this. If anything ever happened to Ed…Al wasn't sure if he could go on. Short of destroying the seal that bound his soul, he wasn't sure if he could even die considering that he had already died once and come back as a spirit. Al shook himself of those thoughts. He had to live in the now and not think about what might happen. Right now he had to look after his brother and help him out any way he could, even if he was only a walking suit of armor.

To be continued...


	2. Chapter Two: Lost Tickets

Chapter Two

Date: Wednesday, August 28th

Time: 5:15 A.M

Edward groaned as he opened one eye and glared at the blurry metallic blob across from him. He blinked a few times to focus his tired eyes and the blob sharpened into the familiar suit of armor which carried his brother's soul. The pale illumination behind Al's eye holes was dimmer than usual, almost nonexistent which meant Al was in "shut off" mode, or whatever it was he called it. Ed sighed tiredly as he relaxed back into the hard bench and wondered what time it was. It was quiet on the train. The only sounds were the rhythmic clickity-clack of the wheels passing over the tracks and the occasional groan from the pistons or chugging engine as it released billowing steam into the night. Ed noticed through the window that the dimming crescent moon was starting its decent toward the horizon. Dawn was fast approaching. He must have slept a good six hours since they had departed from Lumbar station but Ed still felt drained. Their next stop was Star city, the largest city of the western frontier. According to the few tangible rumors he and Al had heard in Lumbar, they were suppose to find a doctor by name of Jonathan McCullen in Star city who knew something about the stone. Whether he had one of his own or knew how to make one was perhaps too good to hope for, but Ed felt strangely optimistic. Maybe, just maybe they would get somewhere this time. In addition, the trip gave Ed an excuse to avoid another infuriating brow beating from the all mighty Mustang. Just thinking about that guy made Ed's blood boil.

Ed's eyes drifted over to Al and he felt that familiar pang of guilt every time he looked at his little brother. Ed would travel to hell and back if that's what it took get his brother back to normal. The train was slowing down and Ed sat up, stretching his back muscles and relishing in the pops down his spine. Sleeping on the hard bench all night had made him sore all over but he would not complain in front of Al. He leaned over and tapped lightly on the hard shell of metal.

"Yo, Alphonse, wake up."

Al's hollow eyes lit up and the armor jerked slightly.

"Oh, so are we there yet?" Al asked curiously.

"Yeah, I think we'll pull into the station in just a few minutes. Now where'd our stupid tickets go?" Ed was rummaging around in their suitcase for said tickets but he couldn't find them anywhere.

"Oh…no…I thought you had them." Replied Al nervously. "Don't tell me you lost our tickets."

"I did not lose them!" exclaimed Ed as he dumped the suitcase out onto the floor and started to search through it like a mad man. "I put them in here when we left this morning! Dammit! ARG! Where'd those little #&# get to!"

"Brother your language is terrible." Al sighed, and then he had an idea. "Have you checked your pockets?"

Ed stopped searching the mess on the floor and angrily delved into his coat pockets, and then his pants pockets both front and back. He pulled out some lint, his silver state alchemist pocket watch, a few orphaned notes, a stretched out rubber band, a tiny travel sized sewing machine oil can for his automail, and a comb… but there were no tickets. Ed fell back onto the bench with a cry of outrage.

"I cannot believe I lost our damn tickets!"

"What are we going to do now brother?" asked Al. Ed huffed in his seat and thought hard for a moment. What were they going to do? Then an idea popped into his brain and a sly smile spread on his face. He pulled out the notes he'd hastily scrawled on two small pieces of paper and laid them on the bench. Al watched curiously as his brother slapped his hands together and transmuted the paper into two train tickets exactly identical to the ones they had lost. After the blue lightning from the alchemy faded, Ed triumphantly picked up their new faked tickets and handed one to Al.

"There ya go, one bona fide train ticket." Al looked at the new ticket and nodded.

"Do you think the man at the ticket booth will notice that they're not real?" he asked.

"Nah. There's no WAY he'd know the difference. Just you watch. We'll be on our way to Star city in no time."


End file.
